A Collection of Project Runway Thoughts

Wow. Project Runway Season 8 Finale. Wow. [SPOILER ALERT]

I think, I am in the majority of the fan base when I say, I am very disappointed with who the judges finally selected as the winner.

I have been Team Mondo for the entire season. I think he is innovative, creative, fashion foward, and daring.

IMO, the judges (Nina and Michael Kors) made the wrong decision. And judging from the reactions on Twitter and Blogs, many, MANY people are so frusted with Project Runway they will not be watching another season.

I won't be going that far, but below are some of the comments:

Nina: While you put Gretchen in Marie Claire, Anna Wintour will have Mondo in Vogue

This is what happens when a show goes from Elle Magazine and the Banana Republic accessories wall to Marie Claire and the Piperlime accessories wall.

If Gretchen's finger is on the pulse of fashion, the body must be a corpse.

Judging the tweets, it seems like Project Runway tried to beat Lost in the 2010 "finale that angered the most fans" category.

They had $9,000 for ten looks. Gretchen's look like they cost $50 to make and they sure as hell don't look like they could sell for much more than that.

"We're not here to restyle his collection" said Michael Kors. But then he and Nina praised Gretchen for styling her collection the way they instructed her to.

Nina and Michael Kors should be ashamed of themselves -- it seemed to boil down to two petulant people rewarding the good child who listened and punishing the bad one who hadn't, who actually dared send the polka dot dress down the runway after being told not to.

I, too, feel bad for Gretchen (well, as bad as I can feel for someone who just won $100K). The amount of hatred coming her way after this win is astounding, and it's not her fault this happened. She just did her thing. If people want to hate, they should direct it at Nina and Michael.

I have a theory. Michael Kors and Nina can't get out of their contracts so they need to get the show cancelled.

Did you not see the show? You can look at the three designers 10 looks here and even rate them.

My favorite fashion bloggers - Tom and Lorenzo - summed up their thoughts, my thoughts, and the thoughts of so many others wonderfully. Read their full blog post.

Local Farm on National TV

Nick Mobilia, who, along with his wife Kathy, owns Arrowhead Wine Cellars in North East, is among the farmers featured in a Pennsylvania-Farm-Bureau-produced television program that looks into the growth of agri-tourism enterprises on Pennsylvania farms. It will be broadcast nationally tonight (Oct. 27) on RFD-TV at 6:30 p.m.

The show, titled "Agri-tourism: Growing Fun and Making Friends on the Farm," relates how farm families are diversifying their operations by introducing their acres and animals to the public.

The 30-minute program also addresses how agri-tourism enterprises offer a fun-filled experience to families who want to get closer to the countryside, while generating new income to help farm families to prosper and preserve their agricultural heritage.

RFD-TV is a 24-hour television network with nearly 40 million subscribers, whose programming is targeted at viewers interested in rural America and agriculture. The RFD-TV channel is carried by the DISH Network (Channel 231), DIRECTV (Channel 345), Verizon FiOS TV (247), Time Warner (229) and other cable systems, including some Comcast, Mediacom, Brighthouse, Cox, Charter, Bresnan and more than 600 independent rural cable systems across the United States.

Congrats to the Mobilias on being featured and making Erie proud!

Reviews at Kohl's

Let me just say: It's about time!

Kohl's finally added the ability to rate and review its products.

As a frequent online shopper, I often use reviews to help determine if the size runs smaller or larger; what the quality is; how long the products lasts; etc.

And while it never fails that there are polar opposite reviews, I still find customer's thoughts on the various products helpful.

Since Kohl's is just starting this feature (why they waited this long to have reviews is beyond me), they are recruiting everyone for reviews.

They sent out an email Thursday to their entire email subscription list and they even have guidelines and how-tos for reviewing:

Tips for writing a review
• Use the product before reviewing it.
• Focus on product features and be specific.
• Provide specific details about why you liked or disliked a product.

So what do you think of reviews - do you find them helpful? How often do you write them? Do you only write them if you are extremely happy or extremely disappointed?

Erie Art Museum Expansion Gala

Tonight, the Erie Art Museum will host a gala event for more than 500 people, unveiling its long-awaited $9 million expansion project. The bash will be followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning, and free admission to the public all weekend to the new facility. Check out the schedule here.

Gallery space in the new facility has tripled, allowing for the museum's entire collection of more than 7,000 artworks to be shown instead of much of it hiding in storage.
Museum officials believe the 30,000 visitors they draw each year could soar to 50,000 in the expansion's first year and beyond. That's even with a spike to their general admission charge, up from $4 in 2009, to $7 beginning next week.

According to the Erie Times-News, John Vanco, the museum's director since 1968, is eager to show off the contemporary new digs, a project that has city officials and community leaders billing it as a tourism hook, a magnet to attract new business, and a destination that should become the cultural centerpiece of Erie's downtown.

Read the full news article here. There's even a video with John Vanco showing us around the gallery.

Erie's Brew-Eerie

Last week I went on a Haunted History Tour of Erie's Union Station.

The Brewerie at Union Station is hosting these tours Thursday nights in October. The tour starts at 7:30pm, costs $8 per person, and takes about 90 minutes. Find out more from the flyer.

On December 3, 1927 Union Station was dedicated after two years of construction. At the height of popularity, Erie's Union Station included a hexagonal rotunda/waiting room, eight ticket windows and a baggage window. In the large main concourse there was a Union News stand, a soda fountain bar, a barber shop and other merchants. The United States Post Office operated mail service for both the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad.

Although Erie now only has two passenger trains that stop and there have been many changes of ownership over the years, the station still looks as it did in 1927. Most of the lighting fixtures are original and are in working order. And the large amount of marble that was used in the 1927 design is still there today.

Below Union Station there is a very old and fully stocked bomb shelter and an underground tunnel that goes under 14th Street that was used to transfer mail from the station to the Erie Post Office. There are other tunnels under Union Station as well. One of the tunnels led all the way to the Bayfront and was used to transport cargo to the ships but has been sealed off. There is another one that was used for coal and the station’s furnace.

If you go on this interesting tour, Chris, one of the owners of the Brewerie, will share history and ghost stories while taking you through the tunnels.

Below are some pictures:

The luggage tunnel.

An old luggage cart.

An old luggage cart

The tunnel that leads to the boiler room, coal room, and a boom shelter.

Cracker rations from 1963 in a bomb shelter

In the luggage tunnel, lots of things were left. Here is an old bench.

In the luggage tunnel, there are many of these phone booth doors.

Still connected, here is the tunnel (no longer used) that connects Union Station to the Post Office.

I don't want to share the ghost stories with you in case you are interested in attending. But if you visit the history of Union Station on The Brewerie's website, you can read a bit more about the history and some of the ghost stories. If you plan on going on the tour, I wouldn't read it, because you will hear these same stories on the tour.

No ghosts were spotted and no strange paranormal experiences were felt on my tour. As a matter of fact, while the haunted stories were interesting, I thought the history and just the experience of seeing these tunnels first hand were more interesting.

There were younger kids on the tour, and they were not scared - they were bored. There is a lot of standing around listening to Chris tell stories. I wouldn't recommend it for younger kids because it seemed they all got antsy.

All in all, I enjoyed the tour. I think it was a bit long (our tour started late and lasted longer than 90 minutes) and the haunted stories were a bit indulged, but it was a "Haunted History Tour."

I really enjoyed imagining what Erie was like in the late 20s and how excited travelers would have been in our wonderful Union Station. Erie must have been a wonderful place to be during the Roaring Twenties! 250 trains used to pass through Erie every day - that's one every 5 minutes. Now 75 trains drive on our rails daily - that's one every 20 minutes.

And since our tour in the tunnels lasted 90 minutes, we actually had trains pass over our heads while we were beneath them exploring Erie's past.

Dunkin' Donuts is Back

Reported by Erie Times-News, Dunkin’ Donuts will open four Erie locations.

The popular doughnut chain, which has 16,000 locations worldwide, signed an agreement yesterday with Scott Enterprises to open four new restaurants in Erie.

The first of those locations is expected to open in November in the Millcreek Mall.

The company expects to announce more details about other locations in November.

Flowers are a Racket

For our alumni award dinner on Tuesday, we honored a successful alumnus who is now the chairman and CEO of a national company.

While he was a student here (in the late 60s), a tennis program was created because he was a phenomenal player.

Our alumnus was inducted into our Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 for his tennis accomplishments. And if you took a look at our 1969 yearbook, all the tennis championships went to him.

On Tuesday at our dinner, he was awarded the highest distinction from the Alumni Association. Rather than do plain centerpieces, we decided to spice the blue and white up with some tennis balls and a tennis racket.

I think the florist had a lot of fun making these floral arrangements as well.

Yuri - He's Grrrreat!

Yuri is an adorable three-month old (when these photos were take) Amur tiger who was born at the Erie Zoo.

Anna, a 13-year-old tiger at the zoo, gave birth to Yuri on May 11. Yuri's birth marked the first time a tiger was born at the zoo in more than 20 years.

This summer and fall he was in an exhibit by himself because his mom liked to carry Yuri around. And while that's not unusual, she had a tendency to carry him around a lot and opened up a couple little cuts on his shoulder. The zoo stitched him up and tried to put him back with her but she kept licking him and opened the wounds again.

At about 28 pounds, Yuri is growing fast. Amur tigers are the largest tigers in the world. Yuri's dad weighs four hundred pounds.

This species of tiger, Amur tigers, are endangered and he's genetically important to that group, so eventually he will be moved to a different zoo. It important for him to get out and start his own family. But in the meantime, Yuri is becoming familiar with this new outdoor, public environment and is adapting very well.

"He’s a typical tiger. He'll track you a little bit, he's very playful at the moment and he'll do things - he's learning to stalk and those natural behaviors that a tiger would have, which is great," Mitchell says.

I know I took a ton of photos... but seriously, I couldn't stop!

First Home's Family Room

I have owned my house for nearly five months. I have lived here just over three months. I am finally done decorating my family room.

The prior owner decorated this with a country motif with a patriotic wallpaper border and a dark green paint on the walls. I think she spent most of her time in this room. It had a collection of "vintage" furniture, children play toys, a desk, a tv, and family keepsakes.

Here are the before photos:

The first thing to go was the wallpaper border. Next the walls were primed and painted grey. Then the white, frilly, cotton window treatments were taken down. Then I slowly started collecting hand-me down furniture for the room, since I rarely am in this room.

Here are pictures in the middle of redecorating:

I am using lavender, rose, and black accents in the room. I replaced the frilly, cotton window treatments with shear, white panels in the one window and two shear scarves in the other. I do keep my desk and home laptop in the room, although I rarely sit there.

The only furniture that was mine was the IKEA chair and the desk (which is from my childhood). The recliner and futon were given to me by my parents. I bought covers for both of them from Overstock.com. The black recliner slipcover came with four separate panels that I wrapped around the arms, back, and leg rest and seat. It is a textured velvet.

The slate grey futon cover is a microfiber one piece that zips over the entire futon mattress. The abstract silver pillows with flowers and black and silver stripped pillow I bought from Value City Furniture. The canvas wall art of the flowers I purchased at Marshall's.

I had an immediate need to finish this room, not because I ever go in it, but because it will serve as my guest room because 1) my second bedroom is my closet and 2) it has a half bath right off it. And guess what! Karena is coming to visit in two weeks! The only things that I would still like to change are the ceiling fan, the brass fireplace cover, and adding a door to the room. Currently, the family room opens to the kitchen, which then opens to the entire house. Since I do not spend much time in this room, I would prefer not to heat and cool it the temperature of the rest of the house.

Although, there is a fireplace in the room so maybe when it's winter I will sit by the fire reading a book and sipping hot chocolate.

Snowflake photo on the mantel was taken by my mom - Carol Posch Comstock.